Readers share their first concert experiences

Dana Guthrie

Two Chronicle staffers had their first concert experience with Rush in Corpus Christi:
Rush, Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum (since demolished), around 1977.
Ken Ellis
Mine was Rush in early 1980 in Corpus Christi. We had to drive to Corpus from Brownsville, my hometown, because no musical acts ever came to the Rio Grande Valley in those days. My older sister and her husband drove my brother and me (we were teenagers) and a friend after school (it takes about 3 hours to get there) and then back after the show. I don’t remember the name of the venue, something like Corpus Christi Arena, but I know we didn’t have floor seats, so my brother and friend and I hopped over a railing and snuck past the security onto the floor, and we even managed to move our way up through the crowd until we were right in front. At one point, Alex Lifeson (Rush’s guitarist) threw his guitar pick and it hit me in the forehead, then landed in my lap. I showed that off to my buddies at school the next day and they thought it was the coolest thing.
Charlie Crixell

Two Chronicle staffers had their first concert experience with Rush in Corpus Christi:
Rush, Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum (since demolished), around 1977.
Ken Ellis
Mine was Rush in early 1980 in Corpus Christi. We had to drive to Corpus from Brownsville, my hometown, because no musical acts ever came to the Rio Grande Valley in those days. My older sister and her husband drove my brother and me (we were teenagers) and a friend after school (it takes about 3 hours to get there) and then back after the show. I don’t remember the name of the venue, something like Corpus Christi Arena, but I know we didn’t have floor seats, so my brother and friend and I hopped over a railing and snuck past the security onto the floor, and we even managed to move our way up through the crowd until we were right in front. At one point, Alex Lifeson (Rush’s guitarist) threw his guitar pick and it hit me in the forehead, then landed in my lap. I showed that off to my buddies at school the next day and they thought it was the coolest thing.
Charlie Crixell